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Never flown a kite, help need for identification of some old.kites


caseyfather

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So I have recently been left some kites, 11 in total and a big bag to hold them, the person who left them to me was an enthuisiast and in most hobbies he had he always bought good quality stuff, so reluctant to just stick on ebay etc without any knowledge.

 I know a few of these are probably cheapo (he wouldny have let the kids use his nice ones ) but what Id like is more information if possible regarding any of them. General plan is keep a couple of the cheap ones to fly in his memory occasionally(I've never flown a kite and as much fun as it looks, my partner will probably kill me if I got another hobby, and if it's anything like climbing gear then it can quickly get expensive.....too many lovely shiny things haha) 

 

Hopefully a couple may have some value as we would then like possibly raise enough money to get a bench in a local park area he liked to remember him by.

 

Any help.would be great and especially intrigued by the one with an autograph.

 

I have taken pictures of them all in my profile album. Some have slight discolouration(can I clean and how) all have the bars and bags and are complete. 1 had a very small hole, apple pip sized. 

 

So yeah any information or websites you can point mpoint would be greatly appreciated 

 

 

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Welcome to the forum.

The kites are all from the early 1990s.  It looks like there is a mixture of commercially made ones as well as probably one non-commercial, home made (but good quality) example.

Commercially produced ones...

The black kite with yellow,red and white triangles looks like an early 90s HiFlyers Phantom (English design).
The green and white Wild Thang is also from HighFlyers.
The purple and white kite is a Sandpiper made by Chris Matheson (when he was known as Beaker)(also English)
The black and white kite with pink wingtips is a US made Goodwinds Flash
The rainbow and black North Shore Extreme is a US kite made by Top Of The Line.  It is the smaller version of their North Shore Radical design
The white and black Powerhouse Blade is another English design.
The Rare Air Kite Company was an English company who made a range of sport kites in the 90s, I can quite place that sail pattern.

Possibly hand made...

The blue and red kite looks like a copy of a Phantom.  The quality of the stitching suggests not commercially made.
The multicolour one... TC Powers was a sport kite competitor in the US in the early 90s.  Looks like he made a few kites for sale and liked to use the fancy stitch patterns on his sewing machine.  It appears to have the word Tracer on it.  The Tracer was a commercially produced kite around the same time, but looked nothing like this kite

I don't recognise the yellow and black, or the red and black kites

Sport kites have never had good re-sale value - even supposedly "rare" ones from a time that some might consider a golden era.  I suspect you will have difficulty selling any of them apart from the North Shore Extreme.  There are a few kite flyers around the world who have nostalgia for the NSE and its larger version the NSR.

There is a Facebook public group Stunt Kite Garage Sale where people buy and sell second hand kites.  You could try there.  Maybe list them with a request for genuine offers and see what comes back.

 

Cleaning nylon kites...

If the discolouration is just dirt, detergent and water will do a good job.  If there are oil or gum based marks, Eucalyptus Oil will dissolve many different substances and will dry without leaving stains.
 

I hope this helps.  Feel free to ask more questions 🙂

 

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Brilliant. I think we may keep the ones that you cant identify and put the rest in a s job lot in ebay. Will list usa ebay as well I do ship quite a few car parts. They will just sit in a garage rusting away...

 

 

Just out of interest, which would be the best for a novice,not wanting to get into the scene but if I'm going to keep one to  fly at beach in his memory I'd like a semi decent one.

 

Really appreciate the help so far,time to trawl selling sites etc

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2 hours ago, caseyfather said:

Just out of interest, which would be the best for a novice,not wanting to get into the scene but if I'm going to keep one to  fly at beach in his memory I'd like a semi decent one.

 

I'd suggest keeping the Sandpiper (it's the one I'd definitely keep out of that lot).  A very nice kite to fly, nice amount of pull, very controllable, no quirks.  Big enough so it is on the slow side - that's important for a novice. Smaller kites need more wind than large ones and can get overwhelmingly fast and zippy as the wind picks up.

Good luck with your fund raising, and I hope you enjoy flying in your friend's memory

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